Kings Draftee Yannick Lehoux

By John Riche

January 18th, 2001

This article will feature Yannick Lehoux who plays for the Baie Commeau Drakkars of the QMJHL. Yannick was a third round draft pick (86th overall in last year’s draft) of the Los Angeles Kings and is turning into quite a steal. Let me tell you this kid is awesome, last year he had 92 points in 67 games (31 goals and 61 assists), but this year he has really turned it up a notch. In 48 games played he has 43 goals and 43 assists for 86 points and his team is in 1st place in it’s division and 4th overall in the league. I watched him play against the Quebec Remparts and he was everywhere on the ice. His best assets are his playmaking skills and his vision on the ice, although he isn’t a bad scorer either as his goal totals would suggest. I heard Yannick saying in an interview that his work ethic and better defensive play were due to the fact that he had learned so much from the likes of Rob Blake and Zigmund Palffy during his first NHL training camp. He’s now a better leader and a more complete player. The only knock on this kid is his size, he needs to get much stronger and add at least twenty pounds if he hopes on becoming a star in the NHL. He’s listed at 6 feet and 184 lbs. which is big enough for juniors but not quite enough for the pros. At 18 years of age though he is definitely on the right track. Give the kings scouting staff credit for drafting him, hopefully they will handle him properly, unlike Pavel Rosa.